Page 1 of Delay of Game

I. TWO YEARS AGO

Prologue

The Offseason

“You aresohot,” the girl slurred, looking up at him from the floor of the bar’s bathroom. She was probably pretty cute when she wasn’t wasted. One of her tits was sort of falling out of her shirt. Her eye makeup was smudged and her hair was messy where he’d pulled it when she’d pushed him against the wall earlier, before they’d stumbled into the bathroom. She stared at his crotch like she wanted to devour it.

Zach really hoped she didn’t. Or at least, like, that she didn’t use teeth.

But what he said was, “Yeah, I know.”

The bathrooms were disgusting, but at least the door locked. The night had been a blur, the kind of nirvana-level drunk where everything seemed like a good idea and it was impossible to say no. So far he had said yes to a lot of shots bought for him by fans in the bar, yes to the kind of ill-advised shirtless dancing that would make his agent scream at him once she saw the social media posts, yes to snorting some coke, and yes, apparently, to getting blown in a filthy bathroom.

He was just the right kind of fucked up for that, but at least the sink was there to keep him from tipping sideways. His hands were white-knuckled where he gripped the porcelain for balance.

“Oh my goddd, I can’t believe I’m doing this. I’ve, like, watched you playforever. I even saw a game in Vancouver—”

“Look, are you gonna like...uh, I really, really don’t wanna talk hockey right now.”

“Oh, yeah.” She swayed a little. She hiccupped. “Gimme a sec, I’m not tryna puke on your dick.”

“Thanks,” he said. He had just enough hand-eye coordination to undo his belt buckle and zipper and pull it out, but anything beyond that was iffy.

She was sucking him off messily and enthusiastically and he was just starting to get into it when his phone vibrated against his ass. No one usually called him at this time of night unless it was a tier-three-to-four bro trying to party, or his agent trying to let him know that he’d fucked up. It was like Russian roulette, whether the night would continue, or whether he’d have to do damage control. Zach closed his eyes, enjoying the last few seconds of the high and getting his dick sucked, before it was time to face the music.

He pulled the phone out of his pocket while the girl was still working and sawKellyflashing on the screen.

Shit. Agent.

Zach took a deep breath, answered the phone, and tried not to sound too fucked up when he answered. “Kellyyyyy... Kells...uhhh...hey.”

So maybe a two on the one-to-ten scale of not sounding too fucked up.

He’d do better next time.

The girl started to pull away and Zach waved his hand likeshh, shh, no, and, rolling her eyes, she went back down.

“Reed, what thehellare you—” Kelly was furious, but she was always angry with him. She was a great agent, and he was a nightmare client. There was a reason her contact photo was the frowny face emoji. “Well, never mind, don’t tell me. It’s this kind of behavior thatgotyou traded.”

Zach jerked backward, pulling his dick out of the chick’s mouth, not even caring that he scraped himself on her teeth.“Traded?”

“To the PhiladelphiafuckingConstitution,” Kelly said grimly. “You didn’tsee? They announced it on fucking Twitter before they even called me, for Chrissake.”

“I’m—a little—fuck, fuck, a little busy—”

“Are you fucking—I told you to stop doing that when you answer the phone, forfuck’s sake, Zachary, get your shittogether!”

The girl, who’d gone back to sucking him off despite his best efforts, moved her head away from him but kept one hand curled around his erection. Like she wasn’t quite ready to give up yet. “Bad time?”

“Hang on, I gotta take this,” he whisper-shouted to Kelly, then looked down at the girl again. “That was great, but uh, yeah. A really bad time. Sorry, you were great. Like really great.”

She rolled her eyes and hauled herself to her feet. “You’re hot, but you’re kind of an asshole, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, with a deep sigh, and watched her go. She flounced a little bit as she slammed the door behind her, and he sighed again. Then it hit him.“They traded me to Philly?”

“That’s what I’ve beentrying to tell you, you fuckingmoron.”

Zach suddenly felt like if he didn’t sit down on the floor, he was gonna end up there anyway. He was too fucked up to really feel it, but he knew it was lurking around the corner. He sat down on the floor. It was wet and whatever he was sitting in soaked into his jeans.

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